Increasingly, marijuana is acceptable in American society. Several states have decriminalized weed. In last month’s voting, pro-marijuana referendums prevailed in three of four states, winning in Michigan, Missouri, and Utah, and losing only in North Dakota. More access to marijuana inevitably will lead to more weed abuse, but also may lead to less opioid abuse, less drunken driving, and less crime. States are becoming sufficiently friendly to reefer—the soft drink of the drug kingdom—that retailers are taxed and marijuana tourism is blossoming.

Meanwhile there is a public health crisis of addiction to opioids and of hard-drug overdose deaths. For several years running, a U.S. law enforcement officer has been more likely to be summoned to the scene of an overdose fatality than the scene of a homicide. The reefer-madness harm that marijuana was supposed to trigger has never occurred; the harm caused by narcotic painkillers is all too real. Last week the Centers for Disease Control reported that American longevity, which has been rising like an escalator for decades, declined slightly for the second consecutive year, with painkiller deaths a leading factor.